“Abortion is proving to be a far more exciting problem for Democratic voters than inflation for Republican voters,” said conservative commentator and campaign consultant Ryan Gildusky. is that suburbs win because they care about their wallets, but try to provoke them with the fact that they pay an extra quarter for bacon? I won’t.”
A new Marist poll released Thursday found that the percentage of Americans who named inflation as the biggest voting issue of the cycle dropped 7 percentage points from July (30%), but the same poll also found The issue remains a major overall concern.
Gender identity, critical racial theory, and criminal justice reform are some of the issues conservatives hope the Republican candidate will weave into their ads and stump speeches.
“It’s too narrow a focus to be the same mother who fills up her gas tank as a mother who cares about her child’s school and makes sure it doesn’t contain CRT[Critical Race Theory]. It would be rash to think that no, because of her children’s curriculum. Anderson said two “veteran” Republicans fighting for reelection in this cycle, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, face a wide range of economic and social problems. He said he should be a model for other Republican candidates.
“Go ahead and add this to your pile,” said a Republican strategist who requested anonymity because he’s been involved in several races in this cycle. disagree on where to invest [campaign cash], and instead of hashing these things out behind closed doors, we’re bickering about it in public. ”
But some conservatives say the party’s message is the most pressing issue, as Republican candidates and outside groups are on the verge of spending aggressively on advertising. Republicans want to stay in a position to retake the House and possibly the Senate this fall.
A Senate campaign aide, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said, “Our closing remarks must be compelling enough to make Republicans want to vote. ‘That’s economic stupidity.’ no longer fits into that category.
spending on counter-messages
So a maintenance group has started handling the issue on its own.
Dark-money civic group Citizens for Sanity pledges to spend millions of dollars this cycle to deliver anti-messages to voters on the internet and airwaves warning them of the so-called awakening in education, business and politics. Did. The group launched a series of provocative radio, television, billboard, and newspaper advertisements that stand in stark contrast to the Republican Party’s broader economic-themed messages. A person familiar with the matter said the group has already spent seven figures in this cycle, between its advocacy and advertising.
One of the group’s recent ads, which amassed more than two million views on Twitter in less than a week, featured 90 seconds of gruesome local news reports and surveillance depicting violent crime incidents across the country. It’s a video montage. The ad, among other allegations, accuses “awake far-left politicians” of enabling “attacks on public safety.”
“Advertisements, especially about crime, run in the race that makes the most sense,” said an SLF official, adding that “generally speaking, economic concerns tend to be the most important issues.” added.
Citizens of Sanity strategic adviser Ian Prior said the group wanted to take advantage of what he described as a “massive realignment” in the current political climate. The group has already spent about $670,000 on advertising since August, according to AdImpact data, and this week it focused on crime, “woke madness,” and gender ideology in Washington, Texas, and Arizona. to initiate a new ad purchase of $600,000. Confirmed with CNN. As Republicans seek to sustain the recent surge in Hispanic support, the group is “aggressively sending the message” even in Latino-dominated markets, Pryor added, having previously worked in Texas, Arizona and New York. In Colorado, Mexico, we launched an ad about transgender athletes participating in men and sports. women’s sports league.
“Latinas are fleeing the political left over the adoption of ‘awake’ policies, an agenda crafted by wealthy white privileged coastal liberals,” Pryor claimed in a statement. (Previous CNN analysis found a five-point shift in popular vote preference among Hispanics toward the Republican Party, while a recent Pew Research Center survey found that 56% of Hispanics Turns out I’m against ending federal abortion rights, come November).
balance
So far, efforts to keep Republican candidates and campaigns away from economic issues and toward cultural topics have been outside party consensus.
By the end of July, Republicans had spent more than $40.6 million on television ads that mentioned inflation since the beginning of the year, according to data firm AdImpact. I admit that I think the issue is most important to voters in this cycle.
In mid-August, conservative radio host Eric Erickson said on a podcast that “inflation is the only thing that matters to the public. At the end of the day, people take their pocketbooks and vote.”
SLF officials, who aren’t authorized to speak publicly, have repeatedly shown that inflation ranks highest among voters’ concerns in Republican internal polls, but it’s clear that Republicans have outstripped inflation. He said that sometimes it is necessary to provide a mixed message that focuses on both crime and immigration. Officials said they’ve seen no evidence that wedge issues like gender ideology resonate with a wide range of voters.
“Inflation is on the rise across most demographics and income groups. Everyone fills up their gas tanks, goes to the grocery store and sees these price increases impacting their budgets in real time.” Officials said the Republican “buffet of messages” could work in the party’s favor during this cycle.
“There may be races that talk almost exclusively about one or the other (inflation or crime or immigration) or talk about both,” the official said.
Even conservatives who have urged candidates to talk more about cultural issues said such messages should be balanced with proposals to combat economic problems.
“My advice to candidates is to do both at the same time. Draw a contrast with the Left and run with a winning platform that really shows voters what you care about,” Anderson said. “I think Republicans have done this, but we need to do much more in the next 60 days.”
“Is it morally right that our children were forced to stay home from school while politicians went out to eat? Do you think it’s fair, President Biden, when he’s allowed to do that?” McCarthy said, lamenting “historic inflation” and “daily violence against innocent Americans” at the same time.
Source: www.cnn.com
